How do you start credit

here's a suggestion (speaking from personal experience). Look at your Credit Report and see what debts you DO have. If you have debts, that the SOL has expired, then 'dispute' them. More, than likely, if the SOL has 'expired', they will come off. Start with the 'smallest' debt, you have on your CR, and try to pay it off..and 'go from there.' Also...if you are paying on a car loan, etc., keep paying, on time. Your Credit will get better over time. remember..deal with one debt at a time. Trying to think of ALL of your debts, at one time, can be overwhelming.

youre gonna have to pay off that old debt first, which in turn will raise your credit score.

then work on rebuilding that credit.

do most people use credit cards to build credit?

If you have 3000.00 in debt that you can't pay - there's not much that I can suggest there....

However, you can start by pulling your credit reports and reviewing them. Correct any entries that are wrong to begin with. You can pull one report from each of the 3 CRAs once a year.

Once you start disputing the smaller things (wrong dates, lates, wrong balances, etc) you can move on to writing good will letters to your creditors if you have lates, or other things marked on your credit report that they may be willing to change.

Even though you can't pay your balances, there's always things to look for to correct.

Start small - and work your way up. The changes will make a difference.

Also, since you say you can't pay the 3k, can you call the OC's and work out a payment arrangement or hardship with them if the accounts havn't yet been charged off ?